Background fields

BackgroundFields are velocity and tracer fields around which the resolved velocity and tracer fields evolve. Only the advective terms associated with the interaction between background and resolved fields are included. For example, tracer advection is described by

\[\boldsymbol{\nabla} \boldsymbol{\cdot} \left ( \boldsymbol{v} c \right ) \, ,\]

where $\boldsymbol{v}$ is the resolved velocity field and $c$ is the resolved tracer field corresponding to model.tracers.c.

When a background field $C$ is provided, the tracer advection term becomes

\[\boldsymbol{\nabla} \boldsymbol{\cdot} \left ( \boldsymbol{v} c \right ) + \boldsymbol{\nabla} \boldsymbol{\cdot} \left ( \boldsymbol{v} C \right ) \, .\]

When both a background field velocity field $\boldsymbol{U}$ and a background tracer field $C$ are provided, then the tracer advection term becomes

\[\boldsymbol{\nabla} \boldsymbol{\cdot} \left ( \boldsymbol{v} c \right ) + \boldsymbol{\nabla} \boldsymbol{\cdot} \left ( \boldsymbol{v} C \right ) + \boldsymbol{\nabla} \boldsymbol{\cdot} \left ( \boldsymbol{U} c \right ) \, .\]

Notice that the term $\boldsymbol{\nabla} \boldsymbol{\cdot} \left ( \boldsymbol{U} C \right )$ is neglected: only the terms describing the advection of resolved tracer by the background velocity field and the advection of background tracer by the resolved velocity field are included. An analogous statement holds for the advection of background momentum by the resolved velocity field. Other possible terms associated with the Coriolis force, buoyancy, turbulence closures, and surface waves acting on background fields are neglected.

Specifying background fields

BackgroundFields are defined by functions of $(x, y, z, t)$ and optional parameters. A simple example is

using Oceananigans

U(x, y, z, t) = 0.2 * z

grid = RectilinearGrid(size=(1, 1, 1), extent=(1, 1, 1))

model = NonhydrostaticModel(grid = grid, background_fields = (u=U,))

model.background_fields.velocities.u

# output
FunctionField located at (Face, Center, Center)
├── func: U (generic function with 1 method)
├── grid: 1×1×1 RectilinearGrid{Float64, Periodic, Periodic, Bounded} on CPU with 1×1×1 halo
├── clock: Clock{Float64, Float64}(time=0 seconds, iteration=0, last_Δt=Inf days)
└── parameters: nothing

BackgroundFields are specified by passing them to the kwarg background_fields in the NonhydrostaticModel constructor. The kwarg background_fields expects a NamedTuple of fields, which are internally sorted into velocities and tracers, wrapped in FunctionFields, and assigned their appropriate locations.

BackgroundFields with parameters require using the BackgroundField wrapper:

using Oceananigans

parameters = (α=3.14, N=1.0, f=0.1)

# Background fields are defined via function of x, y, z, t, and optional parameters
U(x, y, z, t, α) = α * z
B(x, y, z, t, p) = - p.α * p.f * y + p.N^2 * z 

U_field = BackgroundField(U, parameters=parameters.α)
B_field = BackgroundField(B, parameters=parameters)

# output
BackgroundField{typeof(B), @NamedTuple{α::Float64, N::Float64, f::Float64}}
├── func: B (generic function with 1 method)
└── parameters: (α = 3.14, N = 1.0, f = 0.1)

When inserted into NonhydrostaticModel, we get

grid = RectilinearGrid(size=(1, 1, 1), extent=(1, 1, 1))

model = NonhydrostaticModel(grid = grid, background_fields = (u=U_field, b=B_field),
                            tracers=:b, buoyancy=BuoyancyTracer())

model.background_fields.tracers.b

# output
FunctionField located at (Center, Center, Center)
├── func: B (generic function with 1 method)
├── grid: 1×1×1 RectilinearGrid{Float64, Periodic, Periodic, Bounded} on CPU with 1×1×1 halo
├── clock: Clock{Float64, Float64}(time=0 seconds, iteration=0, last_Δt=Inf days)
└── parameters: (α = 3.14, N = 1.0, f = 0.1)